Starmer picks a fight with the wrong guy
4/21/202632 min
Sir Olly Robbins dropped bombshell after bombshell when he spoke to MPs. Robbins, who was sacked as the Foreign Office’s chief civil servant, has accused Downing Street of placing the department under constant pressure to get Lord Mandelson through vetting. He also said the prime minister had tried to find an ambassadorial job for Matthew Doyle, another Labour peer who's been in trouble for a friendship with a paedophile. Where does it all leave Sir Keir Starmer?
Plus, we reveal when the next tranche of Mandelson files will be published.
Steven Swinford, political editor, The Times
Gabriel Pogrund, Whitehall editor, The Sunday Times
Lara Spirit, deputy political editor, The Sunday Times
Producers: Euan Dawtrey, Harry Kitson
Executive producer: Molly Guinness
Picture credit: Parliament TV
Audio credit: Parliament TV
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Speaker 2· Soundbite0:32
Stop us being a proper country. When everyone says they're right Who do you believe? None of us knew the depth of that relationship If the lines are blurred He knew Can you read between them?
Speaker 4· Soundbite0:43
The depth of the relationship When the story breaks Who brings perspective?
Speaker 2· Soundbite0:47
The mistake I made If you want to understand the issues that define our times, it starts with listening Times Radio.
Lara Spirit· Host0:55
On your smart speaker, on digital radio, or the Times Radio app His reputation is at stake.
Speaker 4· Soundbite1:06
Everyone is watching. It is finally time for the truth That I wasn't told that it failed security vetting when I was telling Parliament that due process had been followed is unforgivable He had taken the risk. He had chosen his man. Whitehall had to follow I walked into a situation in which there